Sheet music stand with page turner



April 12, 1955 J. IACOBITTI 2,705,900

SHEET MUSIC STAND WITH PAGE TURNER Filed Sept. 25, less 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIIIIIII' I N V EN TOR. t/bSEPH. [A 0051 7' r1.

BYW

A TTORNEY Apnl 12, 1955 J. IACOBITTI SHEET MUSIC STAND WITH PAGE TURNER 2 Sheets Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 25, 1953 lulllllllli; El 1 i ii ll I INVENTOR. t/OSEPH. hoes/ L ATTORNEY United States Patent SHEET MUSIC STAND WITH PAGE TURNER Joseph Iacobitti, Crockett, Calif. Application September 25, 1953, Serial No. 382,382

3 Claims. (Cl. 84-505) This invention relates to a device for turning the pages of sheet music upon a supporting stand, and has for an object the provision of a simple means for turning the sheets quickly and efliciently at the proper time in a performance without the troublesome effort now required.

In a recital'involving several pages it is customary for a performer to have an attendant turn the sheets at the proper time. This arrangement, however, detracts from the performance and is rarely satisfactory, as it is seldom that two persons can mentally read music at approximately the same speed or time.

Some musicians read their music in close relationship to its production while others read it far in advance and this great difference in timing by the performers makes the art of page turning by an attendant unsatisfactory. The extending of an attendants hand across a page to turn a sheet often results in interpretations detrimental to good performance. Therefore, another object of the invention is to provide a simple and eltective means for turning the sheets at approximately the right time so that a performer can render a production from page to page and back for repeats without confusing interruptions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sheet music turner that is especially adapted for use of a performer employing both hands in rendering a composition. To that end, I provide a music stand with the sheet turner mounted thereupon so that it can be operated by a foot pedal to automatically turn the sheets one by one at the proper time as required by the particular musician.

Another object is to provide a sheet music turner that will hold a folio and the pages straight and smooth and against flapping or being displaced when turned by the device.

Another objectis to provide means for turning the music sheets separately, and in consecutive order so that confusion cannot arise by having two or more of the sheets turned at the same time, and in which means is also provided for turning back a page or pages where a repeat is indicated.

Other features of the invention are shown in the construction, combination and arrangement of the various parts, whereby a sheet music turner embodying neatness, durability, and great usefulness is produced, and other objects and advantages of invention may appear from the accompanying drawings and the accompanying detailed description thereof.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a folio of music as mounted upon a stand equipped with my invention,

Figure 2 is a side view partially in section showing details of the stand of Fig. 1 and with pedal control mechanism,

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the stand shown in Fig. l, with the sheetmusic removed,

Figure 4 is a fragmentary back view of that portion of the invention shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings,

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of the operating mechanism illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings,

Figure 6 is a top view of the stand as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and

Figures 7 and 8 show the general configuration of the sheet music engaging turning arms, and

Figure 9 is a view showing a detail of construction.

As illustrated in the drawings, my present invention 2,705,900 Patented Apr. 12, 1955 contemplates a pedestal 10 having a sheet music supporting means with an inclined back 11 and an outwardly extending shelf forming portion 10 upon which sheet music is adapted to be secured as will hereinafter appear. Mounted upon the pedestal 10 and associated with the sheet music supporting member 11 there is an inclined tubular support 13 upon which there is journaled a plurality of outwardly extending arms 14, each of which carry downwardly extending sheet music engaging fingers 15. These arms 14 with their depending fingers 15 are journaled upon the tubular support 13 to swing in arcs from right to left as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawings and thus operate to turn the pages of a sheet music folio one at a time as a score is being played.

Upon referring to Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that this turning movement of the arms 14 is produced by upward movement of a slideable sleeve 16 that carries a yielding supported arm engaging member 17 (see Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings). This arm engaging member 17 is adapted to engage with the lowermost of the page turning arms 14 when it is operated upwardly against the action of a compression spring 18 that operates to bias the slideable member 16 downwardly and into an inoperative position. As viewed in Fig. 2 of the drawing, it will be noted that the slideable sleeve 16 has a spiral slot 19 in which a pin 20 carried by and extending from the tubular support 13 operates. To move the slideable sleeve 16 upwardly against the action of the spring 18 there is a forked lever 21 which operates through a slideable collar 22 and a second hearing forming collar 23 when the forked lever 21 is rocked counter-clockwise. In this arrangement the forked lever 21 is rocked counter-clockwise by a foot pedal 23 at the base of the pedestal 10 which operates through connecting links 23 and 24. When the pedal 23 is depressed the forked lever 21 will move the collars 22 and 23 upwardly along the tubular support 13 and as the slideable sleeve 16 is consequently moved upwardly it will also move relative to the stationary pin 20 and be turned through an arc of substantially degrees. During this operation the arm engaging member 17 will move the engaged or lowermost of the page turning arms 14 around through a complete sheet turning operation.

As is more clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, my invention also contemplates the use of a second slideable sleeve 25 that is slideably mounted upon the tubular support 13 above the slideable sleeve 16 so as to move downwardly when operated. This slideable sleeve 25 like the slideable sleeve 16 has a spiral slot 26 that engages with a stationary pin 27 carried by the tubular support 13. When the slideable sleeve 25 is moved downwardly it will likewise turn through an angle of approximately 180 degrees, but in a reverse direction to that of the slideable sleeve 16. This slideable sleeve 26 also carries a yieldingly supported arm engaging member 28 that is adapted to be brought into engagement with the uppermost of the page turning arms 14. At this point it should be stated that the yieldingly supported arm engaging members 17 and 28 are of square cross-section so that they cannot turn with respect to the slideable sleeves 16 and 25. As a means for biasing the arm engaging member 28 downwardly into an operative position, I have shown a compression spring 29 that is disposed between bosses 30 and 31 carried by the slideable sleeve 25. In like manner, as is more clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the yieldingly supported arm engaging member 17 is biased upwardly by a compression spring 32 that is disposed between bosses 33 and 34 carried by the slideable sleeve 16. As indicated, the arm engaging members 17 and 28 are respectively provided with stepped outer ends 35 and 36 which insure an operating engagement with only a single one of the arms 14 upon each operation thereof. As is more clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the slideable sleeve 25 is biased upwardly along the tubular support 13 by a compression spring 37 and is held in this elevated position by a collar 38 carried by a pull rod 39 that extends through the tubular support 13 to a point where (as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings) it is connected through a link 40 to an operating lever 41 which is connected to a foot pedal 42 mounted at the base of the pedal by a connecting rod 43.

In order to secure a folio of music upon the sheet music supporting stand 11, I have shown the stand as having an open horizontally extending slot 44 at its top into which the upper ends of a plurality of elastic members 45 may be positioned. These elastic members 45 are here shown as having large knobs or nubs at their ends. At the lower edge of the back member 11 there is also a similarly arranged open slot (not shown) into which the other or lower ends of the elastic members 45 are secured. It will also be noted that the arms 14 have an upwardly extending flange at their outer ends to which the page engaging fingers are attached by a single rivet. With this mode of assembly it will be understood that the sheet engaging fingers may be swung outwardly to facilitate their engagement with the individual pages of the sheet music folio. As shown, the page engaging members comprise a long finger, previously designated by the numeral 15, that is adapted to be disposed at the back of the page to be turned. Associated with this long finger 15 there are shorter fingers 15 that are adapted to be disposed in front of or as clipped over the particular page to be turned. By the use of these long and short finger portions 15 and 15 it will be seen that the page turning arms 14 will be adapted to turn a page of the sheet music in either direction depending upon the direction in which the particular arm 14 is operated.

By now referring to Figs. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings, it will be seen that the page turning arms 14 are so shaped and arranged that the depending fingers 15 and 15 carried thereby will be initially disposed in substantially straight line over the right hand side of the back portion 11 of the music supporting stand and after a page turning operation they will assume a second substantially straight line relationship over the left hand side of the stand. In this latter location the arms 14 will be at a slight angle with respect to the plane of the back portion 11 of the stand. This slight difference in the angular disposition of the fingers l5 and 15, however, will not militate against a complete turning of the page as the lower fingers 15 extend downwardly for substantially the entire depth of the sheet of music while the shorter fingers 15' merely clip over a small portion of the sheet at its upper edge. As indicated in Fig. 7 the shorter or lowermost of the page turning arms 14 is so constructed that it has an arm engageable surface 46 against which the stepped end 35 of the yieldingly supported arm operating member 17 may engage. In like manner each of the succeeding arms 14 are varied in shape to provide corresponding engageable surfaces 46, all of which will be disposed in a single vertical plane when the page turning arms 14 are in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 6 of the drawings. In the reverse operation or in turning back the pages, however, it has been discovered that no such special shaping of the page turning arms 14 is necessary as the page turning back operation is less frequently required. in these instances the turning back of the page is fully completed when the slideable sleeve has been moved by the pedal 42 a sufficient distance to permit a reading of the turned back page. Under normal operating conditions it has been found that the stepped arm engaging outer ends and 36 of the arm engaging members 17 and 28 operate successfully to limit the engagement and turning operations of the page turning arms 14 to one at a time. In a modified form, I may, as illustrated in Fig. 9 of the drawings, provide a special arm engaging means at the ends of the yieldingly supported operating arms 17 and 28. In this arrangement the square cross-sectioned yieldingly supported arm engaging member 17 is shown as having an enlarged head 47 that carries a slideably mounted pin 48 which is biased outwardly by a spring 49. In this construction the pin 48 forms a stepped bearing surface at the end of the upwardly moveable yieldingly supported arm engaging member 17 and thus limits the page turning operation to the arm 14 immediately thereabove. Then, as the arm 14 is moved into alignment with a previously operated or the lower one of the arms 14, the pin 48 will slide in as indicated by the arrow and permit the head 47 to move the engaged arm 14 into its final aligned position as shown by dot and dash lines. This particular arrangement will therefore insure that each of the page turning arms 14 will be operated through a full page turning cycle without interference from a previously operated page turning arm,

While I have, for the sake of clearness and in order to disclose the invention so that the same can be readily understood, described and illustrated a specific form and arrangement, I desire to have it understood that this invention is not limited to the specific form disclosed, but may be embodied in other ways that will suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art. It is believed that this invention is new and all such changes as come within the scope of the appended claims are to be considered as part of this invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a page turning device for sheet music stands, the combination of a pedestal having a sheet music supporting means with a back and shelf portion, a support forming member disposed in back of said sheet music supporting means and extending in spaced relation therewith, a plurality of superimposed horizontally extending arms of different lengths pivotally mounted to turn about said support forming member through arcs in planes substantially at right angles to the back of said sheet music supporting means, a page engaging member depending from the extending ends of each of said arms adapted and arranged to engage individual pages of sheet music upon said stand, a tubular sleeve mounted upon said support forming member for vertical and a turning movement having a spiral rotation producing cam slot extending into one end thereof, a fixed pin extending outwardly from said support forming member and into the spiral cam slot of said tubular sleeve, an arm engaging member yieldingly carried by said tubular sleeve adapted and arranged to engage the lowermost of said plurality of superimposed arms when said tubular sleeve is moved upwardly along said support forming member, spring means operating to bias said tubular sleeve downwardly, a foot pedal at the base of said pedestal, and a push rod operated by said foot pedal for moving said tubular sleeve upwardly upon said support forming member, whereby upon operation of said foot pedal said tubular sleeve will rotate and carry said arm engaging member into engagement with the lowermost of said superimposed arms and turn said arm through a page turning angle about said support forming member.

2. In a page turning device for sheet music stands, the combination of a pedestal having a sheet music supporting means, said means comprising an inclined back and shelf forming portion, a cylindrical support disposed in back of said sheet music supporting means and eatending upwardly in spaced relation therewith, a plurality of superimposed arms of different lengths journaled upon said support to turn through arcs in a plate substantially at right angles to the plane of the back of said sheet music supporting means, page engaging members extending downwardly in parallel relation from the extending ends of each of said arms adapted and arranged to individually engage a single page of the sheet music upon the stand, a slideable sleeve mounted upon said cylindrical support for longitudinal and rotary movements thereabout, said slideable sl eve having a spiral rotation producing cam slot extending into one end thereof, a fixed pin extending outwardly from said cylindrical support engaging the spiral cam slot of said slideable sleeve, an arm engaging member yieldingly carried by said slideable sleeve engageable with the lowermost of said superimposed arms when said slideable sleeve is moving along said cylindrical support, spring means for biasing said slideable sleeve into an inoperative position, and operating means at the base of said pedestal for overcoming the bias of said spring means and moving said slideable sleeve longitudinally along said cylindrical support, whereby upon operation of said operating means said arm engaging member will engage the lowermost of said superimposed arms and by virtue of the spiral cam slot in said slideable sleeve and the fixed pin upon said cylindrical support cause the engaged sheet turning arm to operate through a page turning arc.

3. In a sheet turning device for music stands, the combination of a pedestal having a sheet music supporting means, said means having a back and shelf forming portion, a slide forming support secured at its lower end behind said sheet music supporting means and extending upwardly beyond the limits of its back portion, a plurality of superimposed arms of different lengths journaled upon said support intermediate its ends adapted to swing through arcs in planes substantially at right angles to the planeof sheet music upon said supporting means, finger forming members extending downwardly from the extending ends of said arms adapted and arranged to individually engage with a single page of the sheet music, a slideable sleeve mounted upon said tubular support below said arms for an upward and turning movement thereupon having a spiral rotation producing cam slot extending into the upper end thereof, a fixed pin extending outwardly from said tubular support and engaging the spiral cam slot of said slideable sleeve, an arm engaging member yieldingly carried by said slideable sleeve to engage the lowermost of said sheet music turning arms when said slideable sleeve member is moved upwardly and turned about said tubular support, a second slideable sleeve mounted upon said tubular support above said arms for a downward and turning movement thereupon in a reverse direction, said second slideable sleeve having a spiral reverse rotation producing cam slot extending into its lower end, a second fixed pin extending outwardly from said tubular support and engaging the spiral slot of said second slideable sleeve, a second arm engaging member yieldingly carried by said second slideable sleeve adapted and arranged to engage the uppermost of said sheet music turning arms when said slideable member is moved downwardly and turned, spring means for biasing said first and second slideable sleeves into inoperative positions, and means at the base of said pedal having operating connections for overcoming said spring means and selectively operating said first and second slideable sleeves to bring the arm engaging members carried thereby into cooperating relation with said sheet music tuming arms, whereby said sheet music turning arms may be successively turned by said first slideable sleeve to advance the pages of the music upon said stand in numerical order and where required said second slideable sleeve may be operated to turn the uppermost of said arms in a reverse direction at any point in the program to turn back a sheet of music when required.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,034,916 Kimbler Aug. 6, 1912 1,253,092 Parker Jan. 8, 1918 1,288,822 Broz Dec. 24, 1918 1,502,176 Conti July 22, 1924 

